Large cavern in Weardale?

[Roger W]

Pulled a volume from my bookcase to browse through the other night - "The Moorlands of England" by Dudley Witney (photographs) and Adam Hopkins (text) - published by Key Porter Books of Toronto in 1995.

On page 90 I found the following:

"This chimes in with an anecdote told to the author and photographer, in the course of their moorland travels, by farmer Ian Dent.  Visitors staying at a remote cottage on his farm on the heights above Weardale in Northumberland ran down to tell him they could hear a lamb crying underground.  Arriving at the cottage, Ian also heard the cries.  He poked around in the grass and heather and discovered a narrow fissure in the limestone.  He roped himself up, as people do in these parts when venturing underground, and then descended cautiously into the fissure.The lamb, which he successfully rescued, was standing on a ledge in the side of a huge cavern. 'You could have turned round 25 London buses inside there,' said Ian."

Comments please...?

 

[dunc]

'You could have turned round 25 London buses inside there,' said Ian."

Comments please...?

Mendipitis, a common complaint (most usually found in cavers) where people see caverns being bigger than they actually are 


And, more seriously, I know nowt about Weardale so no idea if they have caverns, be they big or whatever..

 

[IanWalker]

perhaps he was exaggerating and really it is big enough to turn only one london bus at a time but twenty-five in succession?

we can surmise that the chamber is at least 62ft wide and 14ft 4.5in tall, with a firm and level floor.

unless he meant a three-point turn?

edit: http://routemaster.org.uk/pages/history-2120-RM

 

[Roger W]

Do we think that the author (or his informant) was telling porkies, then?  Or could there really be a vast cavern somewhere up there in Weardale?

 

[simonsays]

I can dream on.... That would save me the two and a half hour drive from Sunderland to the Yorkshire Dales!

Sent from my HTC Sensation using Tapatalk 2

 

[bograt]

Taken from a planning application;

Name Mr Ian Dent
Glen Whelt Farm
Bishop Aukland
19/09/2010

Could be him or his son?

 

[Blakethwaite]

Weardale is in County Durham, not Northumberland which possibly suggests that the author has perhaps at best only the slightest grasp of the facts.

 

[Bob Smith]

'You could have turned round 25 London buses inside there,' said Ian."

Comments please...?

Mendipitis, a common complaint (most usually found in cavers) where people see caverns being bigger than they actually are 


And, more seriously, I know nowt about Weardale so no idea if they have caverns, be they big or whatever..

And you apparently know little about Mendip where our caverns are measureless to man, But we don't let those with a Northern persuasion enter the big bits, they're ours to enjoy! We once let a contingent in but two suffered such serious agoraphobia that we vowed never to do it again. :tease:

 

[Les W]

'You could have turned round 25 London buses inside there,' said Ian."

Comments please...?

Mendipitis, a common complaint (most usually found in cavers) where people see caverns being bigger than they actually are 


And, more seriously, I know nowt about Weardale so no idea if they have caverns, be they big or whatever..

And you apparently know little about Mendip where our caverns are measureless to man, But we don't let those with a Northern persuasion enter the big bits, they're ours to enjoy! We once let a contingent in but two suffered such serious agoraphobia that we vowed never to do it again. :tease:

 

[mikem]

Lynnkirk (Shittlehope) Cave isn't too far away:
http://northernpies.blogspot.co.uk/2009/11/weardale-salmon-run-and-cave.html

& Fairy Hole, although it's not a chamber, is near to the above mentioned farm:
http://www.yrc.org.uk/yrcweb/index.php/journal/vols6-11/volume8/no-28-1957/517-v8n28p118

Alternatively it could be one of the many mines:
http://www.ukminingventures.com/WeardaleMines.htm

Mike

 

[Roger W]

Neither Lynnkirk Cave nor Fairy Hole look like places for turning London Buses!

Bograt, your address led me to a postcode for the farm - DL13 1NX - which enabled me to find it on the map, about 1 km south of the A689 just west of Westgate and overlooking the Swinhope Burn.

http://www.bing.com/maps/#JnE9LkRMMTMlMmIxTlglN2Vzc3QuMCU3ZXBnLjEmYmI9NTcuNTQ1MTA2MTcxODM2MSU3ZTExLjU1Mzk5ODgyODEyNSU3ZTQ4Ljc3MDQxODU4MjU0NTIlN2UtMTQuNDgzNTk4ODI4MTI1

Simon, there's somewhere to explore instead of driving all the way south!

You guys from the south - those Mendips caves only seem big because you can't see the walls.  If you stopped following the illustrious Mr Balch's advice and got a proper lamp or two, you'd be able to see how teeny they really are. 

 

[Bob Smith]

...You guys from the south - those Mendips caves only seem big because you can't see the walls.  If you stopped following the illustrious Mr Balch's advice and got a proper lamp or two, you'd be able to see how teeny they really are. 

It was the (soft) Northerners that shat themeselves, not us. We were brave enough to help them out. It took a long time (about two weeks) to find them tho' since the cave was so big. By which time them had survived by eating their flat caps (seasoned with coal), and I'm horrified to say one of them was caught committing an unatural act with a whippet.

 

[Roger W]

Eyup lad.  If lad had whippet with him, he'd have been in no hurry to get out.  Bet he were reet cheesed off when you lot turned up.   

Which, by the by, has nowt whatever to do with the likelihood of finding a large cavern in Weardale...

 

[bograt]

Neither Lynnkirk Cave nor Fairy Hole look like places for turning London Buses!

Bograt, your address led me to a postcode for the farm - DL13 1NX - which enabled me to find it on the map, about 1 km south of the A689 just west of Westgate and overlooking the Swinhope Burn.

Simon, there's somewhere to explore instead of driving all the way south!

There looks like a lot of mining activity just to the SW of the farm, (google earth), perhaps someone with a bit more knowledge of the area could enquire on aditnow?

The article said a cottage on the farmers land, it could be a distance from the farmhouse.

 

[Pitlamp]

Don't worry Roger - they're all dwarves in Muddip, so their caves always seem big to them.

 

[mikem]

Neither Lynnkirk Cave nor Fairy Hole look like places for turning London Buses!

& what would a Weardale farmer know about a London bus (I used to work at Ireshopeburn).

There is an awful lot of fellside up there that is rarely visited apart from by the farmers.

Mike

 

[Blakethwaite]

Greenlaws is the major mine in the immediate area.

Vast amounts of fruitlessly spent time & money could have been saved if the 'caverns' within could have been gained by no more than chucking an electron down a fissure!
http://moorebooks.co.uk/shelves/cart.php?target=product&product_id=19231&category_id=441

 

[dunc]

The snippet mentions "the heights above Weardale", whether or not this is just a local term for slightly higher ground I don't know, but on the opposite side of the dale to the above mentioned farm is Heights Pasture and Heights Quarry (and Cave). Plenty of limestone and some mining activity, maybe there's something up there, still not convinced on the 25 buses though (unless we're talking model versions..)

 

[mikem]

Heights Quarry / Mine:

http://www.mindat.org/loc-4761.html

Mike

 

[bograt]

Vast amounts of fruitlessly spent time & money could have been saved if the 'caverns' within could have been gained by no more than chucking an electron down a fissure!

Or a lamb!